


Spaghetti Revelations

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Blame it on Naomi, Dean Ships It, Dean is a Little Shit, I just tagged that because I love that it's even a tag, M/M, Sam Ships It Wrong, Trial Consequences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-04-01 12:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4019392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A newly-freed Castiel comes to Trial-ravaged Sam for help.  Dean gets involved and is a little shit at first but then genuinely helpful.  Spaghetti is eaten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spaghetti Revelations

“Sam, can you…” Castiel stopped short. “Are you all right?”

Sam hid the bloody rag behind his back. “Oh, hey, Cas. I’m fine, just a little tired from the second Trial. How are you? Have you decided about doing the Heaven Trials?”

“You don’t look tired,” Castiel said, looking closely at Sam. Sam hoped he could fool Cas’s scrutiny. “You have no reason to trust me, I know, after what I nearly did to Dean. But if you’re willing, I can try to heal some of the damage.”

“Cas…” Sam sat on the edge of the bed. “Of course I trust you. You’re deprogrammed now, and I mean too much to Dean for you to kill me, even if we aren’t friends on our own.”

“We’re not?” Cas asked, somewhat hurt.

Sam blinked. “I didn’t mean it that way, Cas. I’d like to think we are, it’s just that every time we get a chance to actually be friends, one of us dies or gets hijacked by angels or loses their soul, so I wasn’t sure… as far as I’m concerned, you’re the best friend I have who isn’t Dean. Not that I have all that many friends, but you are… and I’m rambling, aren’t I.”

“A bit,” Cas acknowledged. “But I do consider you a friend. A close one.”

Warmth flooded through Sam, and he ducked his head so his hair would swing forward to hide his face. “So what brings you here, Cas? It sounded like you had a question or a favor to ask.”

“A question,” Cas said. “A complicated one, I expect, so perhaps it’s a favor as well. I don’t think Dean would be much use, but I can ask him if you’d rather.”

“No, you’re fine,” Sam said, trying to hide the grin. “What’s on your mind?”

Cas took a moment to start. “When I was… restored… or whatever happened to me… for a brief time, I was a normal angel. I felt nothing but the love of God and his creations, as an angel is supposed to be. That lasted from the time I left the warehouse until I got here to deliver the angel tablet to Kevin. Then, emotions came flooding back in, as I remembered. The process made me aware of feelings I cannot identify and don’t understand.”

“Yeah, definitely don’t take this one to Dean,” Sam said with a soft laugh. “What brings on these feelings?”

“A particular person,” Cas said. “Being around him, thinking of him, hearing his name. Seeing things that remind me of him – which happens far more often than I would have expected.”

Well, Sam had spent the better part of the last few years expecting to hear it, but he really hadn’t expected to have to explain to Castiel that he was in love with Dean. He was very glad his hair was still covering his face, because if he hadn’t been red before, he certainly was now. “And what do you feel when he comes to mind?”

“Happiness, mostly. Nerves. If I’m not with him, I wish I were.” Castiel pause for a bit. “Worry – he doesn’t take very good care of himself, and resists others’ attempts to take care of him. A bit of fear – he’s very good about acting as though he’s forgiven my betrayals, but there’s so much to forgive that it’s difficult to believe.”

“Yep, it’s exactly what I thought it was,” Sam said. “Sounds to me like you’re in love, Cas. Congratulations. What do you plan to do about it?”

“I… don’t know,” Cas said, sounding somewhat shellshocked. “I don’t… he doesn’t love me, not like that. He couldn’t.”

Sam wanted to say of course he could, but he was pretty sure Dean would kill him. “Well, he’s an idiot, then. Why do you think he couldn’t love you? Doesn’t is one thing, you can work with that, but if there’s a good reason he can’t…”

“After what I’ve done to him and his family, I consider myself extremely fortunate that we’re even still friends,” Castiel said. “Even if he could forgive me to that extent, there are… vessel compatibility issues.”

“Meaning?” Sam asked, drawing a blank.

“My vessel is male. Changing to a female vessel would involve destroying another life, not to mention issues of consent if I were to initiate an intimate relationship. Jimmy hasn’t been in this vessel for years, not since Raphael blew me away that first time.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. He was honestly surprised that such a thing had even occurred to Castiel, but pleased to see how much the angel had come to understand about humans. “Okay, I’m pretty sure I remember you not giving a crap about orientation, so the problem here is you don’t think he’d be interested in you as a guy?”

“Exactly,” Castiel said. “And I refuse to change hosts just for that; I have a vessel that is entirely mine and I have no desire to return to sharing.”

“Well…” Sam said. “Some people are flexible on their partner’s gender, you know. Particularly when love gets involved. The vessel thing might not be as big a problem as you think.” Dean usually liked girls, true, but Sam vividly remembered his senior year of high school when Dean had a brief but intense affair with Sam’s soccer captain.

“There’s still the betrayal,” Cas said with a shrug. “The things I’ve done…”

Sam shook his head, laughing a little at that. “Cas, admittedly, I’ve know you for only a tiny fraction of your life, but – is there someone out there you’ve betrayed worse than me? You wouldn’t be like this if it were someone like Balthazar, he’s dead and you’d have mentioned that part. I’ve forgiven you completely, so… there’s hope that he can, too.”

“Have you?” Cas said, and for the first time a light entered Castiel’s eyes. “I know that you are capable of greater amounts of forgiveness than anyone I’ve ever known, except my Father, but that much?”

“It’s not like you don’t have just as much to forgive me for,” Sam said with a shrug. “I think that helps, honestly. But there’s also all the good stuff you’ve done for me and, especially, for Dean, and just… who you are. You’re a good guy, Cas, and I can think of exactly one exception to the general rule of you doing things with the best of intentions, and even then, you intended to fix it. And I know how that feels.”

“Thank you, Sam,” Castiel said quietly. “So you think I should do something? What, though?”

“Well, there’s always the direct approach of dropping by or calling and telling him how you feel,” Sam said. “It’s scary as hell, though. I’ve never actually managed to make myself do it, especially when I think or know they don’t feel the same way. But sitting on a secret love for years sucks in its own way.”

“You’ve done that?” Castiel asked, looking curious.

“I’m doing that,” Sam said, ducking his head again. “There was never much hope, I always knew he was in love with someone else, and since the other guy’s way better than I am, I never saw any point in me saying anything.”

“Sam, don’t sell yourself short,” Castiel said. “You are amazing and whoever it is would be foolish not to see that.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Sam said from behind his hair curtain. “But it doesn’t matter, since he loves the other guy. Only chance I have is if he gets shot down, and I can’t let myself hope for that.”

“I can understand that,” Castiel said sympathetically. “Especially from you, you have never valued yourself as highly as you should.” He squinted at Sam carefully. “This person, you’re certain he’s worthy of you? Not many people would be.”

“Uh, Cas, demon-blooded Cage-damaged spawn of Lucifer here,” Sam reminded the angel. “I think you’re backwards.”

“I will never understand why you choose to define yourself by what was done to you instead of by the choices you have made,” Castiel said. “I made that mistake a long time ago, but I have learned better. I don’t think I’ve ever told you how much I regret my words at our first meeting. I apologize for being such a dick to you, you deserved better than that.”

Sam laughed, but it was mocking rather than amused. “Yeah, let’s look at my choices. Running away, drinking blood, trusting a demon…” He shook his head. “The good things I’ve done might qualify me for redemption, at least a little, but I’m not the saint or the hero that you and Dean seem to think I am.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m allowed to decide for myself what to think,” said Cas, happily dismissing Sam’s protests. “I don’t think you’re a saint. Remember that I knew many of them. Most were… you’ll understand what I mean when I say they were angelic.” Sam understood, all right, and that was no compliment. “You are a hero, though. At least, you are in my eyes.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sam said. “You and Dean both think I’m worth more than I am.”

“Or you don’t recognize your own worth,” Castiel insisted. He looked like he wanted to say more, but he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Dean stuck his head in when Sam called. “Dinner’s ready if you feel up to coming out to eat, Sammy. Oh, hey, Cas, didn’t know you were here. You’re welcome to join us if you want, I went a little overboard on the spaghetti.”

Sam had been intending to blow off dinner, but between Dean’s cooking for him and the worry he could feel radiating from Castiel, he decided he couldn’t. “Thanks, Dean, although if by spaghetti you mean spaghetti-O’s I am going to have to hurt you.” He got up, not missing the surprised, but pleased, look on Dean’s face. “Where’s Kevin?” Sam asked as he loaded his plate. “Dean, you don’t have to do that…”

Dean had busied himself throwing together a salad for Sam. “Kev got a plate and went back to the tablets, and I know I don’t, but I have the stuff and you actually showed. Cas, say the word and I’ll make you one too.”

“Thank you,” Castiel said. “You should make one for yourself, too, you really should take better care of yourself. You take such good care of Sam, I know you can.”

Dean just smirked, but he did get out two more bowls. “Someone needs to look after the sasquatch, he won’t do it himself. You checked him out lately?”

“No,” Castiel said. “I offered earlier, but we got distracted by other things.”

“Cas didn’t think I’d trust him after what Naomi tried to make him do to you,” Sam explained.

“And failed,” Dean said. “Yeah, pretty sure you could’ve snapped him out of it too, so don’t you think you’ve lost our trust, Cas. Trust me, you’ll know if that happens, because we will angel-proof the bunker.”

“Hey, you’re the one who has the profound bond with him,” Sam teased.

Castiel flinched. “Sam, that was…”

Sam waved him off. “No, we’re good. I was kind of a dick then, I deserved it. Don’t worry about it, and besides, it’s true.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Can we not argue over things said to or by that soulless bastard? Or who Cas likes better, for that matter, because there’s not really any way for that conversation to go well. Cas loves you, Sammy, he’d have snapped out of it if it were you he was about to kill.”

“Yeah, let’s just be glad we won’t have to test that,” Sam said, looking curiously at Cas as the angel suddenly became enraptured with his spaghetti.

“Dean?” Cas asked eventually. “If you were in love, but the person you loved was in love with someone else, what would you do?”

Dean stared at Castiel. “Yeah, that’s a question for Sam, not me,” he eventually said. “I don’t think getting drunk is a good answer for you. Although if the person she was in love with was you or Sam, I’d figure out how to help them make it work because clearly that is a woman with some sense. Sam?”

“I don’t have anything useful to add, because he’s talking about me,” Sam confessed, hiding behind his hair and a big forkful of spaghetti. Hopefully, that would ward off the worst of the teasing.

Dean threw a napkin at Sam. “How many times do I have to tell you it’s not like that?”

“It is like that,” Sam insisted.

“No, it’s not,” Dean countered. “Look, you’re so confident? Let’s go horse’s mouth.”

“What? No!” Sam sat up straight, a look of panic filling his eyes. “Dean, you wouldn’t.” The problem was, Dean was absolutely confident that he was right about Castiel not being in love with him, so he totally would.

Dean just smirked. “What do you think, Cas?”

Cas looked between the two of them. “I think that I am very confused. I admit, I’m curious about who it is that Sam loves, but I don’t need to know if it would cause him distress. I also believe that there’s something the two of you know that I don’t.”

“What, you mean like who it is Sam’s in love with?” Dean said.

Castiel nodded. “Dean, I trust your judgment. Is this person worthy of Sam’s love?”

Dean nearly fell off his chair, he was laughing so hard. “I am absolutely positive he’d say he wasn’t,” he gasped out once he’d caught his breath enough to speak. “I’m not so sure. I think in a lot of ways he and Sam deserve each other. Of course, there’s not actually anyone good enough for Sammy, but this is about as good as he’s gonna get.”

“I wouldn’t have come to dinner if I’d known it was going to be Humiliate Sam Comedy Hour,” Sam grumbled. “Shut up, Dean.”

“I can’t, this is just too much fun, Sam,” Dean said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. He turned back to Cas. “Personally, I think Sam should just sack up and tell him, but he keeps being emo about how the guy’s obviously in love with me, which is bullshit. He knows me too well to be in love with me.”

Cas tilted his head. “What makes you think that?”

Dean just grinned. “I know the flaws I bring to a relationship. I’m closed off, demanding… and I can be a total jerk to the people I love most, right, Sam?” He shook his head. “The right person could deal with it, but this guy? He needs Sammy. I’m not saying Sam’s perfect, he’s got his own flaws, but they’re flaws that this guy would be able to work with.”

“I… see,” Cas said, staring at his spaghetti again.

Sam sighed. “Well. Now that we’ve thoroughly analyzed my love life, let’s say there’s someone you’re in love with but you don’t think they love you back. What do you do?”

“We talking you have no idea what they think of you, or they’ve said things indicating a lack of interest?” Dean asked.

“Hmm…” Sam actually had to think for a bit. “Let’s go with the no idea one.”

“I’d go hit on her, make sure she knows I’m interested, and ask her if it’s possible,” Dean said. “She says yes, I start working to increase her interest level to match mine. She says no, I accept it and walk away and get some booze. Least I tried, I don’t sit around all emo for years like this bitch.” Dean jerked a thumb at Sam.

“And if there were signs of expressed disinterest?” Castiel asked, and Sam shrank a little. Had Cas figured out…

“Depends what and how sure I am. Might give it a shot anyway depending on the exact situation, otherwise I’d probably find something to occupy my mind until the next girl comes along.” Dean grudgingly took a few bites of salad. “You’re lucky you’re an angel, you don’t have to deal with this bullshit.”

“I have been among humans enough that, as it happens, I do have to deal with this,” Castiel said. “And while I don’t believe I’ll get to be with him, I can’t regret the joy I feel because of my love for him.”

“Human or angel?” Dean asked.

“Human,” Castiel said, but he looked suddenly uncomfortable.

Sam tried to leave, but Dean grabbed his wrist. “Finish your spaghetti, Sam.”

“Please, Sam. You need to eat,” Castiel added as Sam broke free.

Sam put his plate down and glared at Dean. “Leave Cas alone, Dean. If he wants us to know, he’ll tell us. And given how you act when you know a secret, I wouldn’t blame him a bit for keeping it to himself.”

“Hey, I can keep a secret,” Dean protested.

“But you tease mercilessly when you know one that would embarrass someone,” Sam said.

“Look at Cas’s white knight,” Dean proved Sam’s point with. Sam shoved a giant forkful of spaghetti into his mouth, an attempt not to engage any further.

Castiel looked between the brothers. “Dean, are you certain it’s wise to make Sam associate food with getting teased? It’s hard enough to get him to eat as it is.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Dean admitted. “But you have to understand, if I didn’t give him crap about this he’d start testing me for possession. I’m done, Sammy, no more teasing tonight. You or Cas. Just reiterating my advice. Sammy, he’s not in love with me, talk to him. Cas, speak up. No offense but you’re crap at reading signals, so you’ll never know if he’s interested if you don’t ask.”

 

After dinner, Sam excused himself saying he needed to lay down. Cas was torn between going after him to once again offer what healing he could manage and staying to talk to Dean for a bit. He settled on helping Dean clean up. “Dean? About your earlier advice…”

Dean dropped the pot he was rinsing out. “Don’t tell me you were talking about me.”

“No,” Castiel said, hoping that this wouldn’t offend Dean. He didn’t think Dean felt that way about him, but as the man had pointed out earlier, he was bad at reading signals. “As a friend and a brother and a general, there is no one I’d rather have. But as lovers… you and I would be terrible. You’re a good man and I hope you find someone compatible with your life and your personality, but that’s not me.”

“Which is what I have been telling people since before the goddamn Apocalypse,” Dean said with a look of relief. “So what was your question?”

Castiel reminded himself that if he could call Michael an assbutt and hit him with a holy fire Molotov, he could tell Dean about this. It didn’t do much to calm the churning in his gut. “Would your advice change knowing that I spoke of Sam?”

“Yes,” Dean said incredulously. “Oh my god yes my advice changes a lot.”

“I thought as much,” Castiel said, relieved that Dean didn’t seem to be murderous over it. “I just wanted you to understand why I would not be following your advice.”

Dean set the pot on a rack to dry. “Hang on a sec, Cas. You haven’t even heard the new advice.”

“Do I need to?” Cas said. “It’s not hard to guess.”

“C’mon, Cas. You’re thinking that I’m going to tell you to forget it, that my little brother is off-limits and after what you’ve done to him there’s no way I’m letting you near him.” Dean crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. “Am I right?”

“Of course,” Castiel said.

Dean flashed his best you-suck-at-this-and-it’s-hilarious grin. “Which is why you let me talk. I was hoping it was Sam. New advice: get your ass over there and tell Sam you love him. Because if you don’t, I am locking you and him in a room with holy oil until you do. Got it?”

“But…” Castiel started to protest.

Dean waved a dish towel at him. “Sam, not me. Talk to Sam. Go!”

 

If anything, Castiel’s gut was churning worse as he pushed aside the trepidation and knocked on Sam’s door. It was an odd sensation for an angel to wonder if it was literally possible for his innards to tie themselves in a knot.

“Come in,” Sam called out.

Cas obeyed and shut the door behind him, looking closely at Sam once again. “Hello, Sam. Would you like me to attempt to heal you?”

“I’m fine, Cas,” Sam lied. “Just…”

Castiel had had it with Sam blowing off his illness. “Sam Winchester, if you expect me to believe that you are just tired, then either you are a bigger fool than Gadreel or you think I am.”

It was a mistake, of course, as Sam ignored his intent to focus on an irrelevant point. “Who’s Gadreel?”

“Later,” Cas promised, refusing to let Sam distract him this time. “I won’t touch you without your consent, but at least pay me the respect of saying no. Don’t lie to me and tell me you’re fine when you’re coughing blood and Dean is asking you if you feel up to dinner instead of bullying you to come eat. Now, I ask again: would you like me to do what I can to heal you?”

Sam gaped for a minute. “Sometimes, I forget that you’re a soldier,” he said. “You don’t have to… I mean, I can deal…”

Given that Sam had several inches on him, it was difficult for Castiel to get in his face the way he sometimes did when it was Dean being ridiculous. He tried anyway. “That’s not what I asked, Sam. I didn’t ask if I had to or if you thought you could deal with this. I am offering to do what I can to heal you. All you need to do is accept or decline that offer.”

Cas waited patiently while Sam just stared at him. Sam was the one to look away, flopping down on his bed. “Okay, fine, do whatever you want.” Cas sat on the bed beside him, reaching out to brush back a strand of Sam’s hair that had fallen over his face. He left his fingers on Sam’s temple as he sent his Grace into the human’s body, seeking out damaged areas to assess where healing was most needed. Every cell in Sam’s body showed damage, so Castiel decided to focus his healing on Sam’s brain, lungs, and intestines. He withdrew his exhausted Grace and pulled his hand away.

“You should be able to breathe more easily, and get more benefit from what food we can convince you to eat,” he informed his patient. “It won’t hold, you’ll worsen as long as you continue to work on the third Trial, but if you’ll allow me, I can at least slow the damage for you.”

“What about the Heaven trials?” Sam asked. “Won’t you need to conserve your Grace for those? I mean, what if you get sick like me?”

“I haven’t even decided if I’m doing them or not,” Castiel observed. “There’s no specified time for starting. I won’t attempt the first Trial until after you’ve completed your third one and are fully recovered from what they’ve done to you.”

Sam let out a long sigh, rolling onto his side to face Cas. “The third Trial’s going to kill me, Cas. I got weak after the first Trial, the second one’s left me dying, there’s a logical progression here. I’ve accepted that, but Cas, you can’t tell Dean.”

Castiel stared at Sam in horrified disbelief. “Are you so eager to die that you would lie to your brother about it? Do you truly see so little value in your own life?”

“That’s not… I don’t…” Sam seemed to realize that Castiel still wasn’t going to let him get away with bullshit. “Cas, I can close off Hell here! No more demons, no more Crowley, no more lives ruined by idiotic crossroads deals or swirls of black smoke! And all it costs is my life, which by any sane account should’ve been over years ago anyway. And what, exactly, do I have to live for? A brother who I’ve let down so often and so thoroughly that he’d rather have a vampire for a brother instead of me? A life that, despite everything I do with only the best of intentions, I break everything and everyone I ever touch? Everyone I’ve ever considered family has died, except Kevin. Yeah, you and Dean got better, but that just means I get to watch you die again! I ask you, what is the upside to me even being alive?”

Castiel made a note to talk to Dean later about Sam feeling scorned, but for now, there were far more pressing issues. He’d known Sam had low self-value. He understood, better than anyone, how the mistakes Sam had made overshadowed every good act and every good quality that were so obvious to him. “Alive, you can save lives. Sure, sealing off Hell sounds like a good thing, a noble act. But there could be demons trapped on this side. Human souls denied Heaven may find themselves with nowhere to cross over to, creating a good deal of angry spirits faster than hunters can deal with them and who may not be killable. I can’t say for sure, but sealing off Hell may well be one of those well-intentioned breaking the world acts that you and I seem to be so fond of.” Sam curled in on himself, looking smaller and younger than he had any right to.

“On a more personal note, you and Dean need to talk about Benny if you think for a second Dean puts him over you.” Sam closed off again, but Cas couldn’t stop now even if he wanted to. “Kevin would miss you terribly. Can you imagine him left alone with me the only thing between him and Dean? And I… I went into Lucifer’s Cage because I could not live in a world without you in it. I tried to stay in Purgatory, not as penance for my attempt to play God, but because of what I did to you. I love you, Sam, and it is killing me to watch you suffer. You gave your life for the world once already; saved it twice. No one can call you selfish for saying you’ve done enough and that you’re not going to sacrifice your life to fix a problem that the world has lived with for thousands of years. If you still insist on finishing these Trials, at least let me help you bear this weakness.”

Sam had started to uncoil at the mention of the Cage, and he sat up in shock now. “Cas, don’t… did Dean put you up to this? I’m going to kill him.”

Castiel had expected rejection, but it had never crossed his mind that Sam would think he would be complicit in one of Dean’s jokes. “Sam, I may not be the best at recognizing when Dean is setting up a prank, but I can recognize that no good could come of me falsely saying that I love you. So while, yes, Dean did inform me that if I didn’t get up here and tell you on my own he would take steps to force me into confessing, he did not ‘put me up’ to anything.”

“Then… you’re serious,” Sam said, eyes wide. “But Dean…”

Castiel shook his head, surprised that Sam could even make that mistake. “Is a good friend and I consider myself honored to call him my brother. But we would drive each other crazy if we attempted to be lovers. Dean agrees with me.”

“Oh. I… wow, I’m an idiot for not listening to Dean all those times he tried to tell me.” Sam grinned ruefully and ran his fingers through his hair. “You know, I’m a little surprised you haven’t figured out why I was so upset when I thought it was a joke. You’re not good with emotions, but you are really smart and one of the best I know at connecting scraps of information. But, uh, I don’t…” Sam shook his head. “I was talking about you. That’s why Dean found it so hilarious. I’ve been in love with you for years, I just didn’t think I had any chance.”

“You do.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to get that,” Sam said, laughing a little at himself. “What do you wanna do here? And, just saying… I don’t care that your vessel’s male. It’s been a while, but I dated a couple guys back at Stanford.” Sam stopped, looking at Castiel. “How much do you remember about being Emanuel?”

“Not much,” Castiel admitted. “Aside from the hour or so between regaining my memories and fulfilling my promise to save you, the entire year is… hazy, confused. I don’t know how much of what I do remember is real and how much is from taking on your hallucinations. For some reason, I remember the bees more than anything.” He suddenly realized what Sam was probably asking. “I had little interest, and not knowing if I had someone who would be looking for me killed whatever there would have been. Daphne agreed with that decision.”

Sam blinked. “Okay. Then you’re in control of how fast and how far this goes.”

Castiel started to reach out for Sam, but stopped as a thought occurred to him. “Should we inform Dean that the holy fire will not be necessary?”

Sam’s smile filled the room with light, or so it seemed to Castiel, anyway. “I think he’ll figure it out. He knew how I felt and therefore had a pretty good idea what would happen, and him being the way he is, I doubt he expects to see either of us until tomorrow morning. When there will be all kinds of jokes, so… be warned.”

“All right.” Castiel moved closer to Sam, once again reaching up to touch the man he loved, but again he stopped when something else occurred to him. “Sam, will you promise to tell me if you aren’t up to something? Don’t hide from me and let me make you worse, I beg of you.”

Sam nodded. “Tomorrow, we’ll talk to Dean. See what he thinks about stopping the trials. If Kevin finds something to prove me wrong, well, I’m sure there are more hellhounds out there and Hell will never run out of souls to rescue. Until we decide, first off, you have permission to heal me whenever you feel the need. You don’t have to ask each time. And I promise to let you know the truth about how I’m doing.”

“Thank you,” Castiel said. This time, as he reached for Sam, the only thing on his mind was that he was very fortunate. There was nothing to interrupt as he finally kissed the man he’d loved unknowingly for so long.

**Author's Note:**

> Why is Cas eating? Well, if you want the real answer, it's because the writer forgot angels generally don't.  
> Retcon answer: Cas is eating because Dean invited him to and he thinks that if he's there and eating, maybe Sam will eat better.
> 
> Comments are love!


End file.
